Turns Out, Pfizer Was Also Questioned in EU On Generic Deals

By James A. White

Patent deals between generic and branded drug makers have been getting lot of attention lately on both sides of the Atlantic. Today, Pfizer took a turn in the spotlight.

The world’s largest pharma company said it was among those asked Tuesday by European regulators to disclose their patent agreements with generic makers. Pfizer said that its record is clean and that it’s cooperating with European Union officials, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

The EU’s regulatory arm has been upset that cheaper generic drugs aren’t getting to consumers faster as they come off patent and it wants to know if branded makers are making payments to generic rivals to delay the competition. As we noted yesterday, the EU also sent requests for information to AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Roche, Novartis and Sanofi-Aventis.

U.S. regulators are stoking the pay-for-delay issue as well. The FTC said this week that payments in patent settlements typically delay generic competition by 17 extra months, compared with deals when there are no payments. Here is more on what the FTC found.